Fair Hiring Guide

Applicant Communications

General Communications

Prompt, effective and clear communications with applicants are key to maintaining good community relations and ensuring that well qualified people who want to work at the campus remain encouraged to apply. When an applicant has questions it is appropriate for the hiring unit to answer them directly. You may reach out to your Talent Acquisition Consultant if you would like guidance on responding to an unusual or sensitive question.

Responding to Applicant Inquiries

Hiring Managers (HM) should decide who will be the main point of contact when applicants reach out with questions about details from the job posting. The person should know the job fairly well and understand the recruitment process so they provide useful and consistent information.

General information provided to applicants by the hiring unit may include:

• Information about the hiring unit’s mission and goals
• Information about the role of the position within the unit
• Clarification of specific job duties, responsibilities, or systems used
• Clarification about the work schedule, remote work locations, or other conditions of employment

Inquiries from Applicants about the search

Hiring units may provide the following kinds of information in response to applicant inquiries:

• Size of the applicant pool
• Whether the applicant pool was well qualified in general
• Number of applicants selected for interview
• General information about the screening process followed
• The criteria used to evaluate applicants
• The criteria the applicant did not meet as strongly as applicants chosen to continue

Hiring units should NOT provide the following kinds of information:

• Who else applied for the job
• Any information about other applicants, including whether they are internal or external to UCSC

Final Communication to non-selected applicants/candidates

After the selected candidate has accepted the formal job offer, you should notify interviewees who were not selected for hire that the position has been filled. A best practice is to notify them via phone (or in person if an internal candidate). Email is also acceptable if your attempts to reach them by phone were unsuccessful.

If you did not do so earlier, you will also need to communicate to those applicants not selected for an interview informing them that the position has been filled. The preferred method for this communication is via email. Talent Acquisition will provide the contact information for all routed applicants.

Click HERE for sample phone and email language for applicant/candidate communications.

Responding to Complaints

Verbal Complaints

If an applicant calls with a complaint, ascertain the reason for the complaint and, if possible, you may respond to the complaint being careful to use factual, job related information. If you wish to consult with Talent Acquisition prior to responding, you may contact your Talent Acquisition Consultant. Or, if you are unable to provide information to satisfy the applicant, you may give them the option of calling the Talent Acquisition Office at 831-459-2009 or Equity and Equal Protection Office with their complaint.

Written Complaints

Written complaints often carry more weight. You should always consult with the Talent Acquisition Office at 831-459-2009 prior to responding to a written complaint. If the complaint alleges discrimination, contact the Equity and Equal Protection Office.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What can I say if an applicant asks for feedback on their interview?

   1. You should provide information about how well they conveyed their qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience, and if they gave clear examples that demonstrated that they met the qualifications of the job. You may also provide information about whether their answers to interview questions were confusing or didn’t seem to relate to the question being asked.

2. Is it appropriate to suggest to an unsuccessful candidate who asks what they could do differently in the future that they might benefit from participating in an interviewing skills workshop?

   1. A suggestion that an interviewing skills workshop might provide them with some useful tools to present their qualifications more effectively could be helpful. If recommending this, it would be best to give the candidate an example from the interview where it seemed from the application that they had a certain level of experience or skill but when it came to conveying it in the interview they had difficulty responding effectively to the interview question on that topic.